Microarrays Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Microarrays, including details on experiments, designs, statistics, analysis, software.

Microarray analysis of endothelial differentially expressed genes in liver of cirrhotic rats.

Tugues S, Morales-Ruiz M, Fernandez-Varo G, Ros J, Arteta D, Muñoz-Luque J, Arroyo V, Rodés J, Jiménez W

Hormonal Laboratory, Hospital Clínic and Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There is a long-standing interest in the identification of endothelial-specific pathways for therapeutic targeting in cirrhosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate differences in gene expression patterns between liver endothelial cells (LECs) from control and cirrhotic rats by using microarrays. METHODS: LECs were obtained by isopycnic centrifugation. LECs gene expression was then analyzed on high-density oligonucleotide microarrays. RESULTS: Analysis of gene expression revealed that most of the differentially expressed mRNA in cirrhosis are associated with extracellular matrix remodeling, inflammation, antioxidant/stress response, and cell signaling. CONCLUSIONS: The collective expression changes observed within some functional groups of genes indicate that LECs in cirrhotic livers may contribute to lymphangiogenesis, enhancement of fibrogenesis and inflammatory processes, changes in cell-cell interaction with up-regulation of adherens junction proteins, and alterations in the intrahepatic vascular tone because of the down-regulation of genes involved in vasodilatation.

Published 15 November 2005 in Gastroenterology, 129(5): 1686-95.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Microarrays Research Today. All Rights Reserved.